By TOM PAULSON, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, January 4, 2008

The body of a teenage girl was found Friday after an avalanche above the Mountain Loop Highway near Mount Pilchuck in Snohomish County -- the latest in what is shaping up to be the deadliest season for avalanches in modern history.

A group of youths aged 12 to 16 and an adult were hiking near Lake 22, a popular trail off the Mountain Loop Highway east of Granite Falls, when the avalanche hit Friday afternoon, said spokeswoman Rebecca Hover with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Hover said the avalanche trapped three children. Two managed to escape but the girl, believed to be about 13 and from Mukilteo, was reported missing. Her body was found Friday night.

It was the ninth confirmed or presumed death resulting from avalanches in the region this season.

This year's snowpack could stabilize with a big rain, causing snow layers and weak points in the snow to consolidate, Moore said. But the weakening crust is deep enough that the risk could persist well into spring, he said.

The most recent confirmed deaths before Friday's were those of two people who died after an avalanche struck a party of snowmobilers Tuesday north of Mount Baker.